An Autobiography by David Snellgrove

8/10/2019 An Autobiography by David Snellgrove

1/9

An Autobiography by David SnellgroveAuthor(s): Chiara Bellini

Source:East and West,

Vol. 59, No. 1/4, BON: THE EVERLASTING RELIGION OF TIBET.TIBETAN STUDIES IN HONOUR OF PROFESSOR DAVID L. SNELLGROVE (December 2009), pp.349-356Published by: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29757817.

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2/9

An

Autobiography

by

David

Snellgrove

by

Chiara

Bellini

The

autobiography

of the

English

scholar

David

Snellgrove,

Asian Commitment. Travels

and Studies

in

the Indian Suh-Continent and South-East

Asia

starts

with his

first

contact

with the culture of

the

Indian sub-continent and follows

him

through

the

study

and research

which have been central

to

his life.The

result

is

a

literary

and

historical work of the

greatest

interest.

Stretching

to

over

five

hundred

pages,

this

impressive

autobiography

provides

the reader

not

only

with informations

regarding

the intellectual and

professional

experience

of

a

great

scholar,

but also furnishes

an

insight

into

the life of

a

man

who

firstvisited

India

at

a

very

delicate

time,

when

the

country

was a

base for British

operations

during

the

Second World

War,

and thus

witnessed the

momentous

changes

of the last

and

the

present

century.

Snellgrove

takes

the reader

back

to

his

youth,

his first

posts

at

London

University

and

recalls his

numerous

trips

to

Asia,

not

only

recounting

his

memories,

but

reproducing

letters

written

to

his

family

and friends

throughout

his life.

So,

in

other

words his

reminiscences

bring

us

not

just

a

description

of

the

episodes

which filled

a

rich

and

intense

life,

but let

us

share the

emotions

he

experienced

at

the

time.

The enthusiasm and

on

occasion

the

callowness of

a

twenty-two-year-old,

shine

out

from

his first letters

written

in

the

nineteen-forties,

when he

finds

himself

on a ocean

liner bound

for

India

to

do his

military

service

during

the

Second World

War.

The

ship

weighed

anchor

on

10

March

1943

and took

two

months

to

reach

its

destination. But the

strong

possibility

on

such

a

long

journey

that

it

would be attacked

by

an

enemy

submarine did

nothing

to

dampen

Snellgrove

s

youthful

excitement

at

the

prospect

of

at

last

seeing

a

country

that had

long

fascinated

him.

The

very

first

things

to

stir

his

interest

in

Central Asia

were

some

photos

of the

Himalaya

shown

to

him

in

1938

by

his

college

friend

Denis

Wood

and the

experience

of

reading

After

Everest,

by

T.

Howard Somervell

(2).

This book has remained his

favourite

mountaineering

book,

and

his

curiosity

about

its

author led

him

to

discover

that

Somervell

spent

most

of his

life

as a

medical

missionary

in

Kerala,

prompting

him

to

remark,

'I

know

him

only

from his

writings,

but

my

admiration for him

has remained with

me all

my

life'

(p.

1).

Chapter

one

is

divided

into

two

sections and deals with the

three

years

Snellgrove

spent

as a

lieutenant

in

India

during

the Second

World

War. He

describes the discomfort

of

O

D.

Snellgrove,

Asian Commitment. Travels and

Studies

in

the

Indian Sub-Continent

and South

EastAsia,

Orchid

Press,

Bangkok

2000,

587

pp.,

numerous

b/w and col.

ill,

maps.

ISBN 9748299317.

(2)

T.

Howard

Somervell,

After

Everest:

The

Experiences

of

Mountaineer

andMedical

Missionary,

London 1936.

[1]

349

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/9

military

life

in

a

letter

to

his

family

dated

23

July

1943:

reading

between the

lines,

one

can

detect the outlines of

a

bright

young

man

with

a

sense

of

humour who

adapts easily

in

unfamiliar

circumstances.

In

spite

of the obvious

difficulties

associated with the

war,

his first

letters

are

full of

excitement.

Upon

arrival

in

Bombay, Snellgrove

headed

straight

for the

Prince

ofWales

Museum,

which

impressed

him

enormously,

and

it

was

during

this

visit

that

he

fell

in

lovewith Buddhist and

Hindu

art.

After

a

period

spent

in

Calcutta,

Snellgrove

was

sent to

the cooler climate of

Darjeeling

for

reasons

of

health and thus

saw

his dream of

seeing

the

Himalayas

come

true.

A

visit

to

a

Tibetan

Buddhist

monastery

made

a

deep

impression

on

him,

which

he

goes

into

in

detail

in

a

letter

dated

10

October

1943.

He

rhapsodizes

about the colours of the

paintings

and the

details

on

the

statues

decorating

the

temple,

and

it

was

probably

this first

exploration

which

laid the

foundation

for what

was

to

be

a

life

spent

studying

the Tibetan world.

He

was

promised

a

'book of

some

of their

prayers' (p.

15)

by

one

of the

monks of the

monastery,

little

knowing

thatwhat seemed

an

exotic

gift

would

become,

like

many

other similar

texts,

an

object

of

daily study

in

the

not

too

distant future.

During

these first

years

in

India,

Snellgrove taught

himself classical and modern

Tibetan,

which he

was

able

to

practise

thanks

to

the

new

friends he

made,

such

as

Lha

Tsering,

David

McDonald,

the

journalist

and

intellectual

Gergan

Tharchin,

Lama

Wangyal

and the

'jack

of all

trades' Lha

Chen,

who

accompanied

him

as

his

assistant

all the

way

to

Sri

Lanka,

when

Snellgrove

was

sent

there

on

assignment.

Here

he had the

opportunity

to

visit

some

important

temples

and

pilgrim

sites,

such

as

the

Buddhist

temple

near

Kandy,

which

according

to

tradition holds

a

precious

relic of

the

Buddha,

described

in

a

letter

dated

16

April

1944. He

also visited

Sigirya

Rock,

the

Dambulla

caves

and the

ancient

capital

of

Ceylon,

Anuradhapura.

On

his

return to

India,

he

stayed

briefly

in

Delhi then headed

for

Siliguri.

From

here,

together

with Lha

Chen,

he

organized

a

trekking expedition

from

Kalimpong

to

Namchi.

The

people

he encountered

in

the

villages

were

astonished

to

hear the Tibetan of Lhasa

spoken by

an

Englishman.

During

the last

years

of the

war,

Snellgrove

was

assigned

the sensitive

role of liaison

officer

to

the

US

Commanding

Officer,

passing

on

'top

secret'

information. This short

interlude would lead

in

the

years

just

after the

war

to

him

being

viewed with

suspicion

by

the

Indian authorities when

he

made his first research

trips.

However,

this

new

job

was

soon

curtailed

by

the

dropping

of the atomic bombs

on

Japan,

which

Snellgrove 'deplored'

in

a

letterhome dated

15

August

1945.

In

mid-October

1945

he

was

transferred

to

Delhi,

where he

stayed

until

11

March

1946,

when he returned

to

England.

The last

pages

of

chapter

one

include

some

well-observed

descriptions

of the

chaotic

capital

of

India,

in

which

Snellgrove

writes

with

more

than

a

trace

of

nostalgia

about his

swims in the

Jamuna

and afternoons

spent

alone beneath thewalls of theOld

Fort,

'feeling

at

peace

with theworld

and

myself (p.

33).

During

these last

months

spent

in

India,

Snellgrove

also

had

to

negotiate

some

awkward

moments:

Gandhi's brave defiance

meant

every

Englishman

was

unwelcome

in

the

eyes

of

the Indians and

it

appears

the

young

Snellgrove

was

sensitive

enough

to

feel

hurt

by

this

attitude,

especially

in

view

of his

relationship

with

Indian

culture. The colonial

administrators

passed

the

time

in

their

private

clubs,

to

which Indians

were

normally

not

admitted

and

Snellgrove's

natural

curiosity

and

respect

for the

native

culture

and desire

to

blend

into it

must

have seemed

extraordinary

at

the

time.

350

[2]



4/9

His

last month

in

India

was

partly

spent

reading

the works

of Charles

Bell,

which

evidently

got

his

pulse

racing:

'Apart

from

my

own

journeys

in

Sikkim,

these books

have

provided

most

of

what

I

know

so

far about Tibet.

I

sense

a

slight

impatience

which

is

now

creeping

into

my life,

after all the

war

is

now

over,

and

I

am

in

my

26th

year' (p. 48).

He

left

India

in

February

1946,

with the

hope

of

returning

after

a

few months.

In

the

event,

he

was

informed

at

the end

of

May

that

his

application

had been

accepted

by

the

Indian Civil

Service

(ICS),

but

his

joy

was

short-lived

as

the

British

Government

decided

it

was

inappropriate

to

recruit civil

servants

for

postings

to

India

now

that India

and

Pakistan

had been

granted independence.

Tibetologists

whose

training,

like the

present

reviewer's,

owes so

much

to

Snellgrove's

books have

good

reason

to

thank the British

Government

for this

decision,

leading

as

it did

to

Snellgrove

completing

his studies

and

dedicating

his life

to

furthering

his research

into

the

history,

philosophy

and

religion

of

Tibet.

So

he

went to

Cambridge

to

study

under Harold

Bailey

(later

Sir

Harold),

Professor

of

Sanskrit and Pali

and Fellow of

Queen's College. Chapter two,

one

of

the

most

enjoyable

in

the

book,

is

devoted

to

Snellgrove's

education,

revealing

the

origin

of the solid

scientific

grounding

found

in

his

writings

and

disclosing

the

commitment,

sheer

hard work and

innate

brilliance

underlying

his

study

and

research. The

range

and

depth

of

knowledge

in

the fields

of

languages, philosophy,

history,

religion

and

art

exhibited

by

scholars

of the

intellectual

calibre of

Giuseppe

Tucci,

David

Snellgrove

and

Luciano

Petech

makes them

nowadays

seem

unapproachable

models.

In

all,

Snellgrove's

university

education

covered

six

years:

three

years

in

Cambridge,

one

year

in

Rome

studying

under

Giuseppe

Tucci

and

a

further

two

years

at

the School

of

Oriental and

African

Studies

(SOAS),

in

London.

In

Cambridge

he studied Sanskrit

with

Harold

Bailey

and Chinese

with Professor

Haloun,

while

at

SOAS

he

followed

the

courses

of

Walter

Simon.

At

the

same

time he took

private

tuition

in

Tibetan with

Dr

D.R.

Shackleton

Bailey,

who

although

a

classicist,

had taken

up

Tibetan.

While still

at

university,

Snellgrove

took

a

trip

to

Paris

in

1947

with Duff

Mellis,

a

fellow

student

interested

in

theosophy,

and

met

Jacques

Bacot

and Marcelle

Lalou.

Over the

years,

it

became

gradually

apparent

to

him

that

although

undeniably

competent,

his teachers

all

approached

Tibetan

exclusively

from the

linguistic

standpoint.

By

contrast,

for

Snellgrove

learning

the

language

was

a

means

of

acquiring

a

deeper

understanding

of the doctrinal

and

philosophical

content

of

the

texts,

aspects

which

had

always

fascinated

him

and also

brought

into

play

a

knowledge

of

art

and

archaeology.

It

was

at

this

time of

musing

dissatisfaction

that

he

came

across

the works of

Giuseppe

Tucci

(3),

'at

that

time the

greatest

scholar

traveller

of all

things

Tibetan'

(p.

55).

What

most

attracted

Snellgrove

to

Tucci

was

his

research

in

the

field,

which

was

an

essential

accompaniment

to

the theoretical

study

of the

textual

sources,

a

modus

operandi

which

Snellgrove

himself

was

to

adopt

and

pass

on to

his

pupils.

He

therefore

decided

to

head for

Rome after

his Finals. With

his immediate

future

arranged,

during

his

last

year

at

Cambridge, Snellgrove

took

up

again

the

study

of Italian

(4),

(3)

Tucci's

name

had

already

cropped

up

in

conversationwith Tharchin

and

Raja Dorje

in

1943,

when

Snellgrove

was

in

Kalimpong.

In

order

to

reach

Gyantse

and Lhasa

in

his

journeys

n

1937

and

1948,

Tucci had

to

pass

through arjeeling

and

Kalimpong,

the ast

town

in

ndia

on

the road

to

Gyantse.

(4)

He

already

spoke

French and

German,

which he

had studiedbefore

the

War.

[3]

351



5/9

which

he had

begun

in

India

with

an

Italian

prisoner

of

war,

as

he

mentions

in

a

letter

of

20

November 1945.

His main motive

was

to

be able

to

read

Tucci's Indo-tibetica

available

then

only

in

Italian,

and

to

discuss

it

with the

author

directly

-

this alone

gives

an

idea of Snellgrove's standing

as a

scholar and needs

no

further

comment.

In

1949 he made

his first

trip

to

Italy

to meet

the

man

who

was

to

become

the

single

most

important

influence

in

his

professional

life.

But

the

journey

also

gave

him

the

chance

to

admire

the

valleys

around

Monte

Rosa, Venice,

Florence and

even

the

monastery

of

Camaldoli.

He

finally

reached

Rome,

where

he

expected

tomeet

Tucci,

but found he had

to

undertake another

journey

to

Campo

di Giove

(hardly

a

hardship

to

Snellgrove),

near

Sulmona,

in

the Abruzzi

mountains,

where

Tucci

was

spending

his

holidays

in

the

company

of

Francesca Bonardi. This

was

a

crucial

encounter

for

Snellgrove.

Tucci

himself

was

evidently

struck

by

the

promise

this

young

scholar

displayed

and

agreed

to

teach

him

privately,

inviting

him

to return to

Italy

the

following

year.

On his

way

back

to

England

from

India,

Snellgrove

had

not

given

any

thought

to

the

possibility

of

an

academic

career,

unaware

of the fact that

the

Foreign Secretary,Anthony

Eden,

had asked

for

a

detailed

report

to

be drawn

up

on

the

state

of oriental studies

in

England,

with

the

intention

of

providing

government

funds

to

invest

in

further research and

establish

new

chairs

in various

British

universities. The

aim

was

to

promote

improved

cultural relations

between theUnited

Kingdom

and her former

empire.

At

the

time

there

was

not

a

single

chair

in

Tibetan studies

in

the

entire

country,

so

it

was

decided

that the first

should

be established

at

London

University

and

David

Snellgrove

was

to

be

its

first ncumbent.

This

key

moment

in

Snellgrove's biography,

which

marks his

entry

into

the

ranks of

post?

war

oriental

scholars,

once

again

illustrates his

stature

as

an

academic.

Anyone hoping

to

vault the walls of academe

would hail

an

imminent

appointment

of this kind

as a

triumph;

not

so

Snellgrove,

who

accepted

it

on one

condition:

that he be allowed

to

spend

part

of that

year

-

1950

-

in

Rome, imbibingGiuseppe

Tucci's

learning.

In

October

1949,

Snellgrove

moved

to

London,

staying

in

a

flat

in

Bayswater

Road,

near

Hyde

Park.

His

letters from this

period

reveal

a

certain

sense

of

bewilderment,

so

far from

his new-found

master.

However,

in

a

letter

of

13

December,

in

which he makes

liberal

use

of

exclamation

marks,

Snellgrove

cannot

restrain

his

happiness

at

having

been invited

once

again

to

Rome

to

study

with

Tucci.

On

11

January

he

sent

an

enthusiastic

letter from

Rome,

in

which he

writes

of afternoons

spent

studying

in

Tucci's

private library

in

via

Ungheria.

The lure of

Rome

and

probably

the

intoxicating experience

of

working

cheek

by jowl

with

a

great

scholar bowled

him

over

and

his

euphoria

is

palpable

in

his

correspondence.

Tucci

devoted far

more

time

to

his

pupil

than

had been

agreed

beforehand,

even

inviting

the

young

David

to

spend

his

holidays

with

him

on

the

snow,

in

Abruzzo.

Judging by Snellgrove's letters,

Tucci

was

always talking

about

Tibet,

India and

his

travels,

constantly

giving

him advice

on

what

to

read.

And it

was

reading

the life

of

sGam

po pa

with

Tucci

that he became

aware

of the

importance

of the

Hevajra

Tantra,

which

he

promptly

decided

to

translate

as

his

doctoral thesis

(6).

(5)

G.

Tucci,

Indo-tibetica,

4

vols.,

7

parts,

Reale

Accademia

dTtalia,

Roma

1932-1941.

(6)

When this thesis

was

included

in

the

Oriental

Series

published

by

London

University,

the

publishing

committee

had

Snellgrove

s

dedication

to

Tucci

removed,

as

it

did

not

seem

proper

to

them

to

dedicate

a

book

to

a

foreign

professor.

However,

he later

did

manage

to

dedicate both Buddhist

Himalaya

and

A Cultural

History

of

Tibet

to

Tucci.

352

[4]



6/9

Snellgrove

returned

to

London

in

October

1950,

but he

kept

in

touch

with

Tucci

throughout

his

life.

They

continued

to meet

in

Rome

right

up

until the Italian

Tibetologist

s

death

in

April

1984.

The

years leading up

to

1954

were

devoted

to

his first

books,

such

as

Buddhist

Text

through

the

Ages

(7),

together

with

Edward

Conze,

followed

by

Buddhist

Himalaya

(8),

Himalayan

Pilgrimage

(9)

and

Four

Lamas

of

Dolpo

(10),

which

were

published

by

Bruno

Cassirer,

Oxford,

where he became

firm friendswith the

publisher

George

Hill.

This

period

marked

the

beginning

of

Snellgrove's

research

trips,

which

became

an

essential

part

of his life

right

up

until

his

most recent

journey

to

Cambodia

undertaken

in

2008

at

the

age

of

87

(n).

At the

beginning

of

July

1953

a

ship

of

the

Lloyd

Triestino

line

weighed

anchor

in

Naples

bound

for

Bombay,

carrying

Snellgrove

back

to

the India

he

loved.

He

arrived

two

weeks later

for

what

was

to

be the first of

a

long

series of

trips

to

the

sub-continent,

the

Himalayan

region

and

south-east

Asia.

These

experiences

were

all

scrupulously

recorded

in

his

journals

and

letters, selectively

included

in

the

book, providing

fascinating

insights

into

the

history,

philosophy

and

religion

of the

regions

visited,

as

well

as

more

strictly

personal

observations

and

passing

moods.

At times

one

can

sense

the

changes

that

are

being

wrought

in

his life

by

this

constant

stimulus and

his

growing

maturity.

It

is also

interesting

to

discover

how

expeditions

to

the

Himalaya

and

in

India

which

could

last months

were

carried

out

in

the

fifties,

sixties and

seventies:

on

mule-

or

horse?

back,

on

a

motorbike

delivered

specially

from

England

and

in

slow,

overcrowded

trains.

These

vivid

accounts

give

the reader

the

sense

of

reliving

real

adventures,

made

all the

more

evocative

by

the

encounters

along

the road with

people

who

over

the

years

were

often

to

become

good

friends:

the

Prime Minister

of

Bhutan

Raja

Dorje,

the

Nepalese

statesman

Kaisher

Bahadur,

Peter

Aufschnaiter,

Tenzin

Namdak,

Gene

Smith,

Rolf

Stein,

Lokesh

Chandra,

Per

Kvaerne,

Namkhai

Norbu,

Tashi

Lakpa,

Kusho

Bakula,

Tashi

Rapgyas,

Pope

Paul

VI,

the

Dalai

Lama and

many

others,

too

many

to

mention.

But the

encounter

which

was

most

important

to

Snellgrove,

certainly

the

most

affecting,

was

with

Pasang

Khambache,

a

Sherpa

he

met

in

Kalimpong

when

Snellgrove

was

unable

to

leave

the

town

owing

to

a

long

illness.

Pasang

became

a

good

companion

and their

friendship

lasted

until

his death

on

13

May

1996,

at

the

age

of

72.

Pasang

had

received

an

excellent

education and

demonstrated

his

resilience and

initiative

on

several

occasions,

essential

qualities

when

helping

Snellgrove

on

his

forays,

even

cooking

genuine

pasta

with

eggs

and

flour

in

the best

Italian

manner'

(p.

90),

which

appears

to

be

one

of

the author's

favourite

dishes.

His

great

affection

for

Pasang

is

expressed

again

in

several

other

passages,

even

outside

the section

dedicated

to

him

in

chapter

two.

(7)

E.

Conze,

LB.

Horner,

D.

Snellgrove

&

A.

Waley,

eds.,

Buddhist

Text

through

the

Ages,

Philosophical

Library,

New York 1954.

(8)

D.L.

Snellgrove,

Buddhist

Himalaya:

Travels

and

Studies

in

Quest

of

the

Origins

and

Nature

of

Tibetan

Religion,

Oxford

1957.

(9)

Id.,

Himalayan Pilgrimage:

A

Study

of

Tibetan

Religion

by

a

Traveller

through

estern

Nepal,

Oxford

1961.

(10)

d.,

ed. and

transl.,

our Lamas

ofDolpo:

Tibetan

Biographies,

Oxford 1967.

(n)

Private

conversation

with Erberto

Lo Bue.

[5]

353



7/9

After

a

year

spent

in

India and

Nepal, Snellgrove

returned

to

England,

and

it

would

be

fifteenmonths before

he

would

return to

Asia. This

time

he

spent

fulfilling

his

university

commitments,

completing

Buddhist

Himalaya

and

taking

part

in

his

firstconference

in

Rome,

at

Tucci's

invitation,

which

he

described

as

his

'baptism

into

the international world of

scholarship'

(p.

123).

At

the end of December

1955

Snellgrove organized

another

journey

in

India

with

Pasang,

with the intention of

visiting

ancient

Buddhist and Hindu sites

in

central India.

They

saw

Ellora,

some

sites

near

Aurangabad,

Sanci

and

Khajuraho, returning

to

Varansi

on

9

January

1956.

After

visiting

Nalanda and

Rajgir

a

second

time

-

they

had

already

been there

in

1954

-

they

caught

the

train

from

Patna

to

Kathmandu.

Here

Snellgrove

worked

on

the

translation of

a

manuscript

of the

yoga-tantra

'The

Symposium

of

Truth

of

all the

Buddhas ,

Sarvatathagata-tattva-samgraha,

held

in

the

private

library

of Kaisher Shamsher

Rana,

together

with

John

Brough,

Professor

of

Sanskrit

at

London

University,

whom he

met at

the

airport

on

his

arrival

in

the

valley.

The introduction

to

the

anastatic

copy

of the

manuscript

was

published

in

1959

by

Oxford

University

Press.

During

this

same

trip,Snellgrove

visited

Dolpo

for

the

first

time,

returning

in

thewinter of

1960-61 and

again

in

the

summer

of

the

same

year.

His

research and

discoveries

in

Dolpo

were set

out

in

Four Lamas

of

Dolpo.

The Chinese

occupation

of

Tibet,

which occurred

during

this

period,

and

consequent

exile

of

theDalai

Lama

and

surge

of

Tibetans

emigrating

to

Nepal

and India took

a

cursory

hold

on

public

opinion

in

theWest.

The Rockefeller Foundation

in

New

York decided

to

earmark funds

for

Tibetan

research carried

out at

the

chief

European,

American and

Japanese

universities and

to

enable

them

to

invite

Tibetan scholars

to

visit.

Snellgrove

took

advantage

of

this

to

invite

promising

young

students,

such

as

Samten

Gyaltsen

(Karmay),

Sangye

Tenzin

Jongdong

and

Tenzin

Namdak,

a

Bon

po

master

who also

impressed

me

by

his

learning,

his

cordiality

and

his

cheerful

good

humour'

(p.

191).

Working

closely

with this

learned

figure

led

to

one

of

Snellgrove's

most

interestingbooks,

Nine

Ways ofBon, published

in

1967

(12),

which has become

a

fundamental work

in

the

study

of

Bon,

a

kind of

unorthodox Buddhism taken

by

some

to

be the

pre-Buddhist

religion

of

Tibet

-

a

question

which

is

still

a

matter

of

controversy

among

scholars.

In

1968

he

published

another

highly

important

work,

A

Cultural

History

of

Tibet,

written

together

with

Hugh

Richardson

(13),

who

had

been

in

Tibet

as

British

Representative

from

1936

to

1940

and

as

Representative

of the Indian Union from 1946

to

1950

(14).

Snellgrove's

seventh research

trip

to

India,

which

opens

chapter

five,

was a

long

overland

journey

undertaken with

Philip

Denwood,

Peter

Cuming

and Tashi

Lhakpa.

The

group

left

England

in

a

Land-Rover

on

17

March 1967 and

crossed

France,

Italy,

northern

Greece,

Turkey,

Iran,

Afghanistan

and

Pakistan,

reaching

India

on

3

May

and

Nepal

a

week later.

Snellgrove

continued

to

wander

far and

wide,

covering huge

distances

in

his vehicle and

carrying

out

research

on

archaeological

sites and

temples

in

northern and

(12)

.L.

Snellgrove,

ed. and

transl.,

he

Nine

Ways

of

Bon;

Excerpts

rom

gZi-brjid,

ondon,

New

York

[etc.]

Oxford

U.P.,

1967.

(13)

.

Snellgrove

&

H.

Richardson,

A

Cultural

History

of

Tibet,

London 1968.

(14)

Some

British officials remained

in

India after

independence

in

1947. One

of them

was

Richardson,

who

remained

at

his

post

in

Lhasa until 1950 and had

to

leave

it

following

the

Chinese

invasion

of Tibet.

354

[6]



8/9

southern

Indian and

visiting

Tibetan

refugee

communities.

After

a

brief

stay

in

Nepal

to

catch

his

breath,

he

was

off

again

to

Bhutan,

to

which the last

section

of the

chapter

is

dedicated.

He

didn't

leave India until

24

January

1968.

Six

years passed

before

Snellgrove

was

able

to return

to

Asia. The

pause

(if

such

it

can

be

described)

coincided

with

a

period

spent

in

Rome and

ensuing

commitments,

described

in

Chapter

six

under the title

'Vatican

Affairs'.

He

was

assigned

the task

of

joining

the

missionary

priest

Marcello

Zago

and Cardinal Marella

in

producing

a

study

of the

great

religions

of

the

world aside

from

Christianity.

In

1971 he

was

even

granted

an

audience with

Pope

Paul

VI.

In

this

phase

of

his

life,

Snellgrove

felt

increasingly

attracted

by

the idea of

taking

up

holy

orders,

and

although

he

never

actually

took this

step,

this brush with

religious

commitment affected

him

profoundly.

On

the other

hand,

Snellgrove's synchretistic

tendencies

with

regard

to

Christianity

and

Buddhism would

certainly

have disturbed the

placid

waters

of

rigid

Roman

Catholic

orthodoxy.

It

was

in

Rome

in

December

1970

that he

met

the

twenty-five-year-old

Pole Tadeusz

Skorupski,

who

was

to

become

a

student of

his

at

London

University

and

travelling

companion

on

his first

trip

to

Ladakh,

recounted

in

chapter

seven.

The research he carried

out

in

the

field

on

this

journey

was

the

raw

material that

went

into

the

two

volumes

of

The

Cultural

Heritage

of

Ladakh,

the

first f which

was

published

in

Warminster

in

1979

(15).

Before

this

trip,

Snellgrove

had

agreed

to

find

the

time

from

his

university

commitments

to

edit The

Images

of

the

Buddha

(16)

under

the

auspices

and with

the

support

of

UNESCO,

which

occupied

him

from

1972

to

1974.

In

1973

he

was

one

of the

examiners

when

his friend

Per Kvaerne

presented

his doctoral thesis and

also had the

opportunity

to meet

the Dalai

Lama

during

his official

visit

to

SO AS.

On

24

August

1974 he left

for India with

Tadeusz

Skorupski.

When

they

reached

Delhi

after

a

long

overland

journey, they

were

told

by

Gene

Smith that

Ladakh,

so

long

closed

to

foreigners by

the Indian

authorities,

was

once

again

open

to

travellers.

The

two

scholars

jumped

at

the

opportunity

and

immediately

made

plans

to

go

there

via

Kashmir. After

an

initial

brief

reconnaissance

trip

to

the

State

of

Jammu

and Kashmir

and

an

equally

short

spell

in

Nepal, Snellgrove

and

Skorupski

decided

to

spend

the

entire

winter

in

Ladakh,

taking

on

the

polar

temperatures

in

this

region,

which

sometimes

drop

close

to

minus

forty.

They

were

the

first

to

photograph

theAlchi

enclave,

especially

thewonderful Kashmiri

style

paintings decorating

the

walls

of the

gSum

brtsegs

and

'Du

khang temples,

the earliest

dating

from

the 11th

century.

In

order

to

get

at

the

paintings

in

one

of

the

temples, they

had

to

remove

a

parasol

which

was

preventing

them from

taking

a

photograph

from

an

acceptable

angle.

The

result

was

that

they

had

to

donate

a new

one

as a

replacement,

an

unexpected episode

which entailed

Skorupski taking

a

few

days

off

his

research

to

go

to

the

capital

Leh

to

buy

the

necessary

materials.

The

work

required

for the second

volume of The Cultural

Heritage

of

Ladakh was

completed

by

Philip

Denwood

(17),

who

spent

the

summer

of 1976

in

Ladakh

copying

inscriptions,

part

ofwhich

were

never

published.

(15)

D.L.

Snellgrove

&

T.

Skorupski,

The

Cultural

Heritage

of

Ladakh.

Vol.

1,

Central

Ladakh,

Warminster

1979.

(16)

.L.

Snellgrove,

gen.

ed.,

The

Images

of

the

uddha,

Serindia

Publications,

London-Paris

1978.

(17)

.L.

Snellgrove

&

T.

Skorupski

with Ph.

Denwood,

The Cultural

Heritage

of

Ladakh. Vol.

2,

Zangskar

and

the

Cave

Temples

of

Ladakh,

Warminster

1980.

[7]

355



9/9

In

all these

fascinating

accounts

of

his

various

journeys, Snellgrove

never

forgets

his fellow

scholars,

Hugh

Richardson and

Tadeusz

Skorupski,

as

well

as

some

of

his

more

brilliant

pupils,

such

as

Philip

Denwood,

Michael

Aris,

Ricardo

Canzio and

Erberto

Lo Bue. And

it

was

thanks

to

a

period spent

at

Lo

Bue

s

house

in

Val

Pellice,

which reminded

him

of

Dolpo,

that

Snellgrove

had the idea

of

moving

to

Italy.

So it

was

that

on

March

20

1984

he

finally

occupied

a

suitable

property

he had found

at

Torre

Pellice,

some

fifty

ilometres

from

Turin.

The

years

from

1984

to

1987

were

spent

completing

his monumental work Indo-Tibetan

Buddhism

(18),

which

was

published

in

1987

and marks

the end of

his

Tibetan studies.

Moving

to

Italy

was

also the

signal

of

a

profound

change

in

Snellgrove's

life and he

himself

explicitly

viewed

it

as

the

beginning

of

a

second

phase, deserving

of

a

second

section

in

the

book,

too.

In

this

part,

he takes the reader

through

his

subsequent

interests

centring

on

journeys

to

south-east

Asia.

A

first

journey

in

March

1987 took

in

the

great

stupa

at

Borobudur,

in

Java, ushering

in

another

long

series

of

journeys

to

this hitherto unvisited

part

of the

east:

Indonesia,

from

1987

to

1994,

the

Malay

Peninsula from

1995, Cambodia, again

firstvisited

in

1995

and

the

destination

of his latest

trip

in

2008.

In

this second

part

of the

book,

taking

in

Chapters

9

to

12,

Snellgrove

sets

aside his

previous

travel

journal style,

with its reliance

on

original

notes

and letters included

virtually

verbatim,

and

turns to

more

reflective

historical,

philosophical

and

religious

musings.

Although

his conclusions

are

occasionally

out

of

date,

his considerations

are never

less than

interesting,

fruit

as

they

are

of

years

spent

delving

personally

into

Asia's

mysteries.

Every trip

becomes

an

opportunity

for

Snellgrove

to

investigate

some

historical, cultural,

religious

or

artistic

matter.

His

biography

is

in

fact

an

inexhaustible

treasure

trove

of

personal

knowledge

and

experiences.

His

profound

and

perfectly

digested

understanding

of

the

areas

visited has been distilled

into

a

clear

style

and

lucid

exposition,

which make

this

book

an

invaluable

resource

for

many

students and

just plain

enthusiasts

to

come.

It is

a

book that teaches

what

it

takes

to

become

truly

competent

and

is

a

window

on

how

dedication

and determination

can

turn

a

passion

into

a

career

and this

in

turn

into

a

way

of life.

In

the

epilogue,

Snellgrove

turns

his back

on

narrative

altogether

in

order

consciously

to

attempt

to

draw

some

conclusions about the

Buddhist, Hindu,

Islamic,

Christian

and

Manichean

religions

which have

formed

so

much of the

background

of his life and

which have

always

been

a

consuming

interest.

Indeed,

he has

since

gathered

his

thoughts together

more

systematically

in

Religion

as

History,

Religion

as

Myth,

published

by

Orchid

Press

in

2006

(19).

This book

is

a

priceless

chronicle,

a

historical document

of the

greatest

importance,

but

at

the

same

time

a

handbook of

history,

art,

and

philosophy,

as

well

as,

of

course,

a

highly

personal

and candid

diary.

(18)

D.L.

Snellgrove,

Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian

Buddhists

and

Their Tibetan

Successors,

Boston 1987.

(19)

d.,

Religion

as

History,

Religion

as

Myth,

Bangkok

2006.

356 [8]

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An Autobiography by David Snellgrove